UN Security Council members had been due to meet in NY on Friday afternoon for a hastily-called meeting on the fragile Syrian ceasefire, billed as the “last chance” to end the five-year war.
Advertisement
The U.S. will not share the full text of a recent deal with Russian Federation on a truce in Syria, the State Department said Thursday.
The Kremlin also said it was using its influence to try to ensure the Syrian army fully implemented the ceasefire agreement and that it hoped the U.S. would use its own influence with rebel groups too.
The state-run Anadolu news agency says three US flags were hung on Thursday around a compound of the Democratic Union Party, or PYD, and were still visible from Turkey on Friday afternoon.
The aid impasse came as Russian Federation put pressure on the USA to release the text of the agreement, and urged the United States to allow it to form the basis of a UN security council resolution next week.
The truce was implemented on Monday after the USA and Russian Federation reached an agreement two days earlier.
The ceasefire has been marred by a lack of aid deliveries, sporadic violence including three civilians killed Friday and increasing friction between Moscow and Washington.
In a meeting with US security aides, US President Barack Obama expressed his concern that despite the truce, the Syrian government continues to block the flow of humanitarian aide.
Insurgents shelled government-held areas in the eastern Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun, wounding three people, Syrian state media said.
Activists in Syria’s besieged Aleppo protest against the United Nations for what they say is its failure to lift the siege off their rebel-held area, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016.
There were reports that Russians had taken over key checkpoints from the Syrian government, but it was not clear if this was ahead of handing them on to the Red Crescent, a key demand of the local council.
Separately footage has emerged of Free Syrian Army rebels expelling USA special forces from the town of Al-Rai in northern Syria, calling them “infidels” in Arabic.
The main dispute of the truce so far is over aid to Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city before the war, divided between rebel and government-held zones for years.
Russian Federation said Friday that only Moscow and the Syrian regime were fulfilling a truce deal hammered out with the United States, but stressed it is ready to extend it for another 72 hours.
The Britain-based Observatory said the violence stemmed from clashes between insurgents and Syrian government forces and their allies in the Jobar district on the eastern outskirts of the capital amid a government effort to advance in the area. President Bashar Assad’s government views all those fighting against it as “terrorists“, and has long accused the USA and other rebel supporters of backing extremists.
Vladimir Savchenko said late on Thursday the Syrian government had done so to ensure the delivery of humanitarian supplies into rebel-held east Aleppo.
What is known about the deal is that moderate Syrian opposition groups and Syrian regime will have a seven-day cessation of hostilities and parties will allow humanitarian aid access to besieged areas.
Jan Egeland, a top United Nations coordinator for aid to Syria, said in a text message that the U.N.is waiting for assurances on “monitoring arrangements”.
Moscow has itself accused rebels of breaking the truce and said Washington needs to do more to make them abide by its terms, including separating from the jihadist Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which only broke formal allegiance to al Qaeda in July.
However, key Assad backer Russian Federation said it was still ready to extend the truce set to expire later Friday by 72 hours.
If the cessation holds for seven days, the US and Russian Federation have agreed to plan joint attacks on the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham group, which was previously known as the al-Nusra Front, and IS.
Advertisement
Rebel groups said they would not withdraw from around Castello Road until government forces did.
